Inside Voices is a video that visually and auditorily represents the reality of living with anxiety and depression. The information in the video is rooted in my own experience and anonymous crowd-sourced stories of other people who suffer from anxiety and depression. Inside Voices aims to increase awareness and understanding of depression and anxiety while helping those with a mental health disorder feel less alone and realize that others share similar feelings. 

Inside Voices lives inside a 4.5ftx8ft room, which I built with PVC pipe and sheer black fabric in the installation. The idea was to create a space that felt similar to the video outside of the computer screen. My video piece was heavy and dark, and I thought I needed to have something that balances out the emotions Inside Voices may bring up. Therefore alongside the video, I created a zine titled “Breathe,” which, content-wise and visually, is more uplifting. Inside Voices and Breathe can be found on the website I designed for both pieces to virtually live. 

The framing question of my project was, “What’s it like to live with anxiety and depression?” I am now left with the questions of why mental health disorders are so common? and what does that tell us about the society we created? How can we help each other?